Tablet computers are typically portable computers that usually use a touchscreen as an input device. For example, some tablet computers may use a virtual keyboard, e.g., displayed on the touchscreen, for text input through the touchscreen. Some tablet computers may use handwriting recognition, e.g., responsive to marks made on the touchscreen with a stylus, as an additional means for text input through the touchscreen. Examples of tablet computers include the APPLE® iPad®, BLACKBERRY® Playbook, HP (Hewlett Packard) TouchPad™, ANDROID® tablets (e.g., Motorola Xoom ANDROID® Tablet), etc. Some tablet computers are not compatible with, e.g., cannot communicate with, certain removable storage devices, e.g., non-volatile memory cards, such as SD Secure Digital® (SD) memory cards, CompactFlash® (CF) mass storage memory cards, etc.
Although adapters exist for adapting the iPad® to communicate with SD and CF memory cards, SD and CF memory cards can cause excessive drain on the battery of the iPad®. In addition, existing SD and CF adaptors are inconvenient, difficult to use, and detract from the overall appearance of the iPad®.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternatives to existing adapters for adapting tablet computers to communicate with removable storage devices, such as SD and CF memory cards.